Very rarely does a book truly draw me in during the first chapter but Shadows on the Sand by Gayle Roper succeeded in this. Immediately I was drawn to the characters and want to see them get their happy ending.

Carrie Carter runs a small café in the town of Seaside, New Jersey and has a thing for one of her customers. Her past life has made trusting people tough for Carrie. Greg Barnes experienced a horrible tragedy in his life three years ago and isn’t sure he is ready to find love again.

When one of Carrie’s employees (Jase) is found dead, there is a lot of speculation about who murdered the boy. Was it Bill, the boyfriend of another of Carrie’s employees who got in a fight with Jase the night he went missing? Was it Chaz, the drug dealer who almost killed Greg when he was evicted? Or was it someone else?

There is a lot going on in this book which I believe is why I enjoyed this book so much. The mentions of modern-day communications such as Twitter and Facebook are amusing. And the author deals with some really tough issues such as widows, runaways and cults.

Shadows on the Sand was such an enjoyable read for me, I have added more of Gayle Roper’s books to my “to be read” list!

***Multnomah Publishing provided me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.